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(Continued from page 40) was reported stranded and partly broken up on the coast of Norway. The piling was found to be ruined by teredo (shipworms).

Captain Robertson then tried to interest someone in the financing and building of the rafts on the Pacific Coast, and succeeded in getting one built in Coos Bay, Or., in l89l and 1892. This raft consisted of piling for delivery in San Francisco, Ca. Two rafts were built, both of which were lost. Captain Robertson attributed the loss to the tugboat company and accused them of willfully losing the rafts on the theory that this new and cheaper means of transporting piling and lumber would eventually displace the transportation of these commodities by vessels.

After this venture, Captain Robertson, with a new partner by the name of Bain, went to the Columbia River and built a cradle in Astoria, Or., in August, 1894, which was launched and towed up into Coal Creek Slough, near Stella, Wa. The raft was thrown together by means of derricks and pile drivers of various kinds. Not withstanding the hurried construction, the raft did not get to sea until October. The raft ran into a storm almost as soon as it crossed the bar and proved a total loss. Some of the

The Merchant Magazine piling drifted back into the Columbia River.

In 1895 another raft was built at Stella, Wa., and taken down the Columbia River into the Pacific. Part of this raft was lost near the Golden Gate, but the balance, about 6090, was safely landed in San Francisco Bay and sold at a good profit.

In 1896 Captain Robertson, together with the Port Blakely Mill Co., built an expensive cradle in West Seattle, Wa., which was copper painted to guard against the ravages of the teredo. One raft was built and successfully landed in San Francisco. A second raft was built the following year, but the building progressed in constant fear that the cradle would fall to pieces because of the action of the borers. This raft reached San Francisco with small loss of material, but the partnership decided it would be too expensive to build a cradle every two years, so the operations were again moved to the fresh waters of the Columbia River. J.A. Fastabend was given the contract to buy the piling and build the rafts for Captain Robertson and the Port Blakely Mill Co. Under this arrangement, two rafts were built at Stella and one at Westport, Or. All were safely landed at San Francisco. The raft built at Westport was the last one built by the above mentioned company.

Captain Robertson then formed a partnership with A.B. Hammond Lumber Co., which proved successful for a number of years, losing only two rafts during the venture. For this brief historv of the

(Please turn to page 66) lltHILE San Diego, Ca., had

This personal reminiscence of the arrival of the Benson rafts at San Diego, Ca., harbor was provided by lvar Shogran, Leisure World, Laguna Hills, Ca,, who is writing memories of his early years in San Diego, 1903 to 1917, to present to the San Diego llistorical Society.

UU plenty of sunshine and pleasant living for its people it seriously lacked building material for expansion, particularly lumber. A Mr. Benson and associates in 1906 undertook took an ambitious program to remedy this situation.

They assembled a large log raft in Oregon and towed it down the Pacific Ocean to San Diego. This raft contained not only hundreds of logs but several hundred thousands feet of sawn timber to build a complete sawmill at the San Diego waterfront. It was the start of a very successful enterprise that continued for years.

Yearly, additional colossal floating forests were put together in a large cradle on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. These rafts were held in the fresh water until the calmer summer months for the long voyage south. This avoided salt water teredos, a minute wood borer.

We often went out off Point Loma on the Bahada to meet these floating leviathans. In the long, heavy ground swells the rafts would squirm like monsters alive. Thechains wore into the logs at places leaving small piles of powedered wood. Except for the sea dampness these might have started a fire.

Approaching the smooth water near the outer entrance to the harbor, the Ba hada came up alongside the starboard quarter ofthe raft and was secured fast. She had two purposes. One to act as a rudder to steer the raft into the harbor and the other to provide restraint, when needed, allowing the larger tugs better towing control when docking the raft at the Benson sawmill. It was a delicate job, maneuvering this thousand foot object through the narrow curving channel, which Captain Joe Brennan of the Bahada always did skillfully. The large tugs immediately returned north for another roundtrip.

Onsomeof thetrips I boarded the rafts and went forward to stand on top. These man-made giants were awesome, as they passed slowly and silently into the harbor with no power of their own.

Reaching their destination, the rafts were unchained to allow the logs to float into the booming area. They were then lifted up by conveyer to the sawmill to be cut into finished lumber. The first cut was to trim off the flashings or bark portion. This material was sold by the wagon-load to those in San Diego who still had wood stoves or fireplaces.